Nobunaga Kiyota
Nobunaga Kiyota (清田 信長, ''Kiyota Nobunaga) ''is a freshman at Kainan High and is the only freshmen in the team's starting lineup. Like Hanamichi Sakuragi of Shohoku, his antics often make him a source of embarrassment for his team, as seen before the start of the Kainan vs. Shohoku game, when he shows off his ball handling skills, and before the start of the Kainan vs. Ryonan game, when he makes a failed attempt at doing an alley-oop. In the Filipino Dub, he initially calls Sakuragi "pre", meaning bro, instead of "Red-Haired Monkey". Later in the series, he begins calling him "unggoy", which is Filipino for monkey. Appearance Kiyota has shoulder length black hair and violet eyes. During basketball matches, he is often seen wearing a light purple headband and the basketball match between Kainan and Ryonan onward, his hair is tied in a loose low ponytail to show the fringes of his hair in each sides. Like Maki and Jin, his initial appearance has him wearing a standard Kainan winter school uniform; a light blue long sleeved formal suit jacket with a white long sleeve button shirt with a red loose tie on the collar, light blue formal pants and black shoes. In on and off courts, Kiyota wears a blue and yellow Kainan jersey jacket with a matching blue trousers and white sneakers, his jersey uniform is concealed with this outfit. He also wears a yellow and purple Kainan shirt within his white, yellow and purple jersey shorts or his white, yellow and purple jersey shirt beneath his blue trousers. The color of the jersey is the moniker white, yellow and purple. His casual appearance is a dark green cargo vest with a dirty white short sleeve under loose shirt, khaki cargo shorts and black shoes and white socks. He also has a Kainan cap on his head. Personality He is loud and boisterous, and likes to call himself a super rookie and constantly refers to how great he is, which resembles that of Sakuragi's though he has the skills to make up for it. He regards Kaede Rukawa of Shohoku as something of a rival, and is shown to be jealous of him when the latter becomes the only rookie among the top five players of the Kanagawa tournament known as the "Team of the Tournament". He and Sakuragi are extremely similar in personality and tend to bicker and tease each other whenever they meet. Plot Before the game against Shohoku, Kiyota steals the ball Sakuragi is holding and starts to show his skill at handling the ball. This leads to an argument, but Sakuragi and Kiyota manage to come to an agreement about Rukawa not being the number one rookie. Both Kiyota and Sakuragi promise not to lose to him. During the Shohoku game, Kiyota is able to surprise Sakuragi by pretending to go for a layup, but switching to a dunk when Sakuragi attempted to make a block. Kiyota also attempts to guard Rukawa but is not successful at first, despite putting up a good fight. Eventually Sakuragi, proclaiming himself as "King Kong's little brother under the rim" is able to block Kiyota. Abilities He has amazing ability and he can jump higher than most players despite his height, and can even perform dunks. He also has great ball-handling skills. Although self-proclaiming as no#1 Rookie, the fact that his skill is not on par with Rukawa. However, he is very proud and confidence that he has a lot of stamina compared to Rukawa. Trivia *Sakuagi's nickname for him is "Wild Monkey". *Kiyota's nickname for Sakuragi is "Red Monkey" *Both he and Sakuragi are also been punched in the head by their captains (Akagi and Maki) respectively for their trouble making antics. *He and Sakuragi have the same personality and goal to beat Rukawa and be the best rookie. They say "I won't lose to you!" to Rukawa simultaneously. *In the Filipino Dub, he share the same voice actor with Mitsui, Coach Anzai and Yohei Mito. Category:Characters Category:Basketball Players Category:Small Forwards Category:Kanagawa Players Category:High School 1st Years